I'm still a teenager...

I've always had an obsession with Bob Dylan. I know, I know... so predictable to obsess and idolize the king of folk music. What can I say? I love him. My sister Jayne and I came to the realization last time we sat on the deck at the cabin listening to him that he really is as great as people say he is. He lives up to the hype. Over the years I don't read much about his personal life because I don't want to ruin the romance of it all. In the 1960's he was everything a rock star should be rolled up into a perfect package... a tortured soul with an unkempt hairdo wearing his black skinny jeans and monkey boots. He was full of talent, he was mysterious, he was an innovator, a rule-breaker, full of attitude and arrogance, he wrote cryptic and inspired poetry through a raw, familiar voice. I went to the Bob Dylan exhibit this past June at the Skirball and fyi if you think I'm a fan you should of listened to the elitest Dylan scholars that were in attendance. Gag!

It was here that I saw this life-size picture of Dylan and Joan Baez... How cool are they?!


I have always had this fascination of the two of them together. In fact I'm hoping to some day have a collection of Dylan and Baez photographs framed on my wall. (Bernie can you help me out with that?)
I love to think of them in the west village in the early 60's. Young and in love, voicing their political views, singing and fighting for civil rights issues. They were hot stuff and they knew it. I don't think there is a more handsome, more hip couple than these two.

One of my favorite Dylan love songs...

To Ramona

Ramona, come closer,
Shut softly your watery eyes.
The pangs of your sadness
will pass as your senses will rise.
The flowers of the city
Though breathlike, get deathlike sometimes.
And there's no use in trying
to deal with the dying
though I cannot explain that in lines.

Your cracked country lips
I still wish to kiss,
as to be by the strength of your skin.
Your magnetic movements
Still capture the minutes I'm in.
But it grieves my heart, love,
To see you tryin' to be a part of
a world that just don't exist.
It's all just a dream, babe,
a vacuum, a scheme, babe,
that sucks you into feelin' like this.

I can see that your head
has been twisted and fed
with worthless foam from the mouth.
I can tell you are torn
between staying and returning
on back to the South.
You've been fooled into thinking
that the finishing end is at hand.
Yet there's no one to beat you.
No one to defeat you,
except the thoughts of yourself feeling bad.

I've heard you say many times
That you're better than no one
And no one is better than you.
If you really believe that,
you know you have
nothing to win and nothing to lose.
From fixtures and forces and friends,
your sorrow does stem.
That hype you and type you,
and making you feel
that you gotta be just like them.

I'd forever talk to you,
but soon my words,
would turn into a meaningless ring.
For deep in my heart
I know there is no help I can bring.
Everything passes,
Everything changes,
Just do what you think you should do.
And someday maybe,
Who knows, baby,
I'll come and be crying to you.

teddy bear or rabbit?

So I discovered whilst kniting with 100% angora that it is the softest, silkiest, most fluffy, most exquisite fiber ever. Do you know why??? Because this is where it comes from...

Yes, yes, can you believe it? That is a real rabbit. Here's another one...

I had a nose tickle the entire time I was knitting. I also felt like I had a hairball at the back of my throat. I can't even imagine what kind of hairball the rabbit above might get?

Here's a baby...can you even stand it?! I think I might have to start breeding english angora rabbits. I would wear my flower collared dress with apron and gently groom my rabbit everyday. Then in the spring I would shorn my glorious rabbit and then spin the fiber into yarn on my loom in the backyard whilst drinking my english breakfast tea. Divine...

I want one... or two... or three.

kung fu panda beef

Today was a sick day. Ella woke up with a heavy head and a scruffy man voice. Her cheeks were rosy and are still and she has been snorting her post-nasal drip all day long. ewww. After I dragged her around on a couple errands she had had enough. Before going home we decided the perfect duo-remedy for a cold is sugar loaded panda beef from Panda Express and the newly released Kung Fu Panda from Dreamworks. They were both conveniently located next door to one another in a nice new strip mall. Awesome. God Bless America.

a change is gonna come...

Thanks LeAnn for inspiring me with this...I have always loved this song...if you don't get the goose bumps from this song then you never will...sing it Sam!

happy day

joy...elation...goose pimply...teary eyed...this is me on election day... I wanted to run down my neighborhood banging my pots and pans...change and hope has come and there is an energy and excitement in the air that is invigorating. I don't want to forget it. I hope to read this blog years from now and remember that feeling.

I have been especially touched by the reaction of people across our country and the world. Driving here and there in my car hearing peoples reaction on NPR, listening to people at Ella and Thomas school, the cashier at Trader Joes..people are inspired.

In 1992 when I was 15 years old I lived in Bejing, China and was fortunate enough to attend the International School of Beijing. In my 9th grade classroom I was one of 4 Americans. The rest of the class was made up of Scandinavian, Indian, Chinese, German, Korean, Malaysian, French descent to name a few. It was a diverse group of kids that I will always love and never forget. We were a close knit group and even though I was only there for a year, I feel I learned more about myself and the world than many kids learn in a lifetime. During this time I remember having to constantly defend my country and my people to other kids in my class. After all, whether we like it or not we were the most powerful nation in the world and we knew it and we wanted everyone to know it and this quite frankly was obnoxious. This was the attitude of many Americans and even though I was proud to be from America I was embarrassed by this attitude much of the time. This America was especially irritating to my European friends. Most of the time they were just poking fun and I would laugh along with them, but much of the time there was a glint of truth in what they would say... Americans were fat...lazy..movie watchers instead of book readers...wasteful... arrogant...loud...in your face..hamburger eaters. (I have to admit this did represent a majority of American tourists that you would see in China.) Even still these silly remarks would start to wear on me too. I remember a German friend of mine would always talk of America and their poor history of racial discrimination. He would drill me and ask me questions about black America and slavery and the unfair treatment of native american indians and so on. He was a bright boy. I remember I would come home to my dad at night close to tears and dad would brief me on American history and he would give me his sound political advice and I would take it back with me to school. At school this boy and I would go back and forth and usually he would win because I was intimidated and social debate was never one of my fortes. One day at lunch he made me cry and my response was a spiteful one. I responded with a.."Yeah, well, at least we didn't have a holocaust!" I know...I know...that was biting and poorly founded on my part, but hey I was 15 and he was really starting to hurt me and my country.

So ever since my year in China I have always cared more about what the world thinks of this U.S.A of ours. Especially during this time when America is as unpopular as ever. For eight years the word that people around the world have used again and again to describe the approach of George W Bush's presidency is "arrogance".

I'm hoping this will change...

From the BBC...

This is a country which has habitually, sometimes irritatingly, regarded itself as young and vibrant, the envy of the world. Often this is merely hype. But there are times when it is entirely true. With Barack Obama's victory, one of these moments has arrived.

and...

He will be open to the world in a way President Bush never was. And he will show once again the value of the American dream.

Obama is going to be forced into making many difficult decisions for our country. Although he won't be able to work magic, I am confident that he will surround himself with the right people and he will work his hardest and restore our warped image. It's reassuring to me that I can actually say I feel this way about our president.

halloween night